The Ethics of Fetal Research by Paul Ramsey (review)

The Ethics ofFetal Research. By Paul Ramsey. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1975. Pp. 104. $2.95 (paper). Ramsey raises many issues related to abortion and research on abortuses. He does this primarily in connection with the British guidelines (Peel Report), the HEW guidelines of 1973 and 1974, and the 1974 National Research Act (with emphasis on Title III—Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research). He is especially concerned with the appropriateness of the research in this area and with the ethical problems of consent. Ramsey's own feelings are perhaps well expressed by his concluding phrase, "I think it not likely that after full disclosure many understanding consents to abortus research would be forthcoming." The book is difficult to read for several reasons. First, Ramsey repeatedly quotes portions of the Peel Report and of the HEW guidelines, but nowhere does he give the full text of the relevant sections. Unless one knows these documents intimately, he is lost. Appendices would have been most helpful. Second, although Ramsey describes in broad outline the research that can be done on the fetus or abortus, a much more detailed description would have been informative. There are detailed differences in the possible studies and the approaches to them. Last, Ramsey's preoccupation with the HEW guidelines leaves one with the thought that he believes (1) that committees can develop guidelines and (2) that the government and its agent, HEW, are the final authorities. Ramsey does a service to the reader by pointing out the many ethical dilemmas in abortus research. But I for one would be more satisfied if he set out the problems simply and in more concrete terms and then proceeded to develop his own position. His preoccupation with the proposed guidelines developed by others makes the book too discursive and too political. Michael Newton, M.D. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology University of Chicago 600 I Book Reviews ...